One way to develop balance, strength and flexibility (all at once)

Recently, we’ve had two cluster write ups about Pilates, then two on fitness, two on martial arts and we complete this series with two weeks of philosophy and classes from the wonders of yoga.

Yoga arrived later in my teaching career but it wasn’t long before I realised it was an important missing piece. I taught a Saturday morning class over a ten year period and I learned and developed a great deal. And I hope my students gained some physical and mental benefits too.

Lessons from yoga:

• Yoga teaches us about the sacred side of movement
• It offers great variety from strength training (so many new exercises to master)
• There is a big focus on how to control the breath
• Meditation becomes easier and it helps to clear the subconscious mind
• It develops subtle listening skills
• Grounding - you tend to be more present
• Calmness/stress management - the overall experience from yoga helps the mind to be more relaxed during and after class
• This can also help to manage anxiety and depression
• Awareness - as with martial arts, you move with a sense of body presence and integrity
• Mental clarity/focus - natural by-products when you combine movement with breath 
• It introduces a whole new sense of stamina training (e.g. holding your arms above your head for an hour)!

Personally yoga enhanced my self discipline and I embraced and completed a 1000 day meditation/kriya. I was also introduced to new dietary ideas (including raw cacao which lead to my ‘Raw Chocolate Guru’ recipe book). Finally it bought me to mantra which inspired me to pick up my guitar and write compositions.

For a number of reasons, I don’t teach solely yoga classes anymore, but I do bring the principles, asanas (yogic postures) and pranayama (breath awareness) into many of our Dojiva classes. And I feel that my classes and 121’s feel more balanced and varied because of this.

The Aston twist

Of course, in our Dojiva classes we include Aston concepts to the traditional asanas and this helps:

• Consider the three dimensionality of your body
• Honour your natural asymmetries - it is rare to find the same level of flexibility on both sides 
• To enjoy better flow, functionality and transitions with a whole body focus of cooperative movement 
• Avoid compression and potential injury with the recycling of gravity and GRF
• Find the right neutral alignment for each asana/exercise 

Summary

Many standing yoga exercises challenge and enhance three great functional qualities at the same time - balance, strength and flexibility.  And these gel great together.

Yoga also helps to balance your body. It’s not much use being strong yet stiff or being really supple but weak. By the end of these two weeks, I trust you will have laid the foundation to embody the virtues of suppleness and strength! Then of course you have all the great mental benefits and this week’s classes have it all waiting for you to embody. 

Thanks for reading

Take care

Danny

In August - join me me and Dojiva members for a four week balance challenge

More info click here

Here are this week’s recommended cluster of Dojiva classes:

Sunday 13th July 2025 - Mindfulness 38 - A practice to enhance your listening skills. After a 4 minute intro, I have you pause the audio to go outside to listen for as long as you like! The goal is to be a calm and neutral observer and to be curious about what subtle sounds you might be missing. How many different sounds can you hear? What’s the nearest sound, what’s the furthest? Play straight from your phone online or by using the Kajabi on - the - go App (or even even better, pre-download the MP3 for an airplane mode experience). 

Monday 14th - Workout 80 - The whole class is dedicated to a functional version of the sun salutation including hip hinge balance, scooping press ups, squat planks and split squats. Enjoy listening to your body and some background relaxation music.

Tuesday 15th - Mobility 89 - In this class we get to some yoga type stretches that are performed from a seated (supported) position. Although easier than standing, these moves offer good weight bearing tone and length of key leg muscles.

Wednesday 16th - Meditation 29 - Open up your curiosity and return the natural state of peace and calm with this guided meditation that has binaural beats relaxation music in the theta range. 

Thursday 17th - Mini fitness 14 - Coming in at under 20 minutes, this is one of our shorter HIIT classes! When the class is over, while still warmed up, why not (perhaps from memory) add some yoga stretches or a few rounds of the ‘sun salutation’? Or chill with one of our guided meditations.

Friday 18th - Friday 6th - Mobility 66 - This class takes our basic weight transfer/gait movements and builds into balance challenges and a series of yogic stretches.

Saturday 19th - Workout 69 - Today, we have 13 sets including functional strength, balance challenges, lots for the abs plus yoga stretches (later in the class and during the cool down time). Then we finish with a short relaxation.